Fifth-grader Alu Mikaio, 10, helps with decorations in Chloe Lechuga's classroom on the first day of school at the Irene M. Hunt School in San Anselmo on Monday. (Alan Dep/Marin Independent Journal)

Irene M. Hunt School in San Anselmo on Monday. (Alan Dep/Marin Independent Journal)

Upper elementary school teacher Chloe Lechuga gets help from fifth-grader Alu Mikaio, 10, with putting up classroom decorations on the first day of school at the Irene M. Hunt School in San Anselmo on Monday. (Alan Dep/Marin Independent Journal)

A sign hangs under the whiteboard in Chloe Lechuga's classroom at the Irene M. Hunt School in San Anselmo on Monday. (Alan Dep/Marin Independent Journal)

A San Anselmo school for behaviorally challenged youth has notched up its expansion game to accept more students in the wake of the abrupt closure of Timothy Murphy School in north San Rafael.

Staff at the Irene M. Hunt School in San Anselmo said they are adding two more classrooms this school year to accommodate up to 20 boys displaced by the closure of Timothy Murphy, an independent school that educated primarily foster youth, most of whom live on the same Catholic Charities-owned St. Vincent’s School for Boys property in Marinwood where the school was a tenant.

“(The closure) was very disturbing, and very hard on the staff who have been there for many years,” said Lucas Valley resident Kathy McNeil, a former development director and 25-year employee at Timothy Murphy School. “But it was necessary in order for the boys to be served properly.” After 34 years of operation, the school closed at the end of June due to declining enrollment and the resulting loss of state per-student revenue, combined with a lack of strong leadership, according to McNeil.

“It’s very sad to see to see Timothy Murphy School go,” McNeil said. “It’s the first time in 156 years that the boys are not being educated on the same property where they live.” She is leader of the Godmothers, a group of 230 volunteers who do all the fundraising for clothes, eyeglasses and other extras for the St. Vincent’s boys who are wards of the state. The Godmothers also run the after-school program for the boys for when they return from the Irene Hunt school.

The Hunt school, a non-public day program for children with emotional and behavioral challenges, is housed on a campus behind Red Hill Shopping Center in San Anselmo along with its parent nonprofit — Side by Side, formerly known as Sunny Hills Services.

“We’re excited to welcome the new students and help them meet their education needs so that they can thrive academically and socially,” said Jolene Yee, director at the Hunt school. “The addition of the new students significantly increases the scope of the school’s curricular, behavioral and mental health services and increases the number of low-income students from 55% to (as much as) 65%.”

Yee said the goal of the school was to equip students with social and academic skills so they can return to their neighborhood mainstream public schools.

“At a time of significant need, we are fortunate to have a proven provider step up to offer services designed to support students with significant social, emotional and behavioral needs,” said Jonathan Lenz, director of the Marin County special education local plan area, or SELPA. Marin County Office of Education oversees placement for special education students, including some of the boys who attended Timothy Murphy School and who may live at St. Vincent’s. Despite its name, St. Vincent’s is not a school, but is a residential treatment home.

“Catholic Charities St. Vincent’s School for Boys is a licensed short-term residential therapeutic program serving boys who are referred from in-patient psychiatric facilities and county agencies throughout Northern California,” said Cailan Franz, a spokeswoman for Catholic Charities of San Francisco, which owns and oversees the St. Vincent’s program and the property.

In 2018, the Hunt school accommodated 40 students in four multi-grade classrooms. This past spring, the school increased its enrollment to 48 students in response to a persistent waiting list. With this latest addition, the school now will serve up to 68 students at the San Anselmo campus. Classes for the new academic year began Monday.

“A lot of the Timothy Murphy students were eighth grade and up,” Yee said. The Hunt school has had to hire two more teachers and create two more classrooms to accommodate the new students. All of the classes at the Hunt school have between eight and 12 students.

“We have a high teacher-to-student ratio,” Lee said. “That’s part of the success of our program.”

Franz said some of the boys who are St. Vincent’s residents and who attended Timothy Murphy School have been placed at Irene Hunt by Marin County Office of Education. Others have been placed elsewhere, she said.

“Catholic Charities transports the boys to schools based on the county placement,” Franz said. McNeil said the Godmothers have also purchased a van to help transport the St. Vincent’s boys to their new schools.

According to McNeil, the Timothy Murphy School had been struggling with the rent payments to Catholic Charities for the past two years. McNeil said the school was in arrears on the rent two years ago, but was able to get up to speed later in the year. Earlier this year, however, the school asked Catholic Charities for a reduction in the rent, but the request was denied.

Then, about three months ago, Catholic Charities declined to renew the Timothy Murphy lease, which expired at the end of June. According to McNeil, both the Irene Hunt School and the Spectrum Centers, a network of Bay Area schools for children with special needs, bid on the new lease. Spectrum won the bid and was scheduled to take over, but the firm ultimately pulled out after reviewing the higher cost of running a school in Marin, according to McNeil.

Staff at the regional office of Spectrum Centers in San Pablo confirmed the organization would not be taking over. Evelyn Clancy, former director at Timothy Murphy, could not be reached for comment.

With the combination of attending the Hunt School during the day, and having robust after-school program run by the Godmothers, “the boys are getting all they need,” McNeil said.

Deanna Brock of San Anselmo, a parent of a student at Irene Hunt school and a board member of Side by Side, said her son Ben, 12, has improved significantly in the approximately two years since he transferred there from the Ross Valley School District.

“He can express empathy now — he wasn’t able to before,” Brock said. “He’s much more aware of how his actions and reactions affect the people around him. He’s able to identify how he’s feeling. His emotional intelligence has skyrocketed.”

According to a statement from Side by Side, the number of students in need of special education help in Marin is rising. Lee said the Irene Hunt school was already planning to expand to accommodate the growing waiting list when it got the referral from Timothy Murphy. The referral accelerated the school’s expansion plans — which included turning several administrative offices into classrooms.

Yee said the school districts have contracts to pay for the placements at the Irene Hunt school. Students are provided with an individualized educational plan, or IEP to monitor their progress. The IEP team determines if and when a student is ready to make a gradual re-entry to the mainstream — and stays with the student throughout the process, Brock said.

“When that happens (for students like Ben), he will have an IEP team,” Brock said. “It will be a slow transition, so they can be successful when they land.”

NOTE: This story was updated on Wednesday, Aug. 21, 2019 to clarify the designation for Hunt School and to clarify the assignment schedule for an IEP.